1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate conveyance device and a substrate conveyance method that conveys a substrate exposed by a liquid immersion method, to an exposure apparatus and an exposure method, and to a device manufacturing method.
The present application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-349550, filed on Oct. 8, 2003, and the content thereof is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor devices and liquid crystal display devices are manufactured through the so-called photolithography technique, by which a pattern formed on a mask is transferred onto a photosensitive substrate. The exposure apparatus used in the photolithography process has a mask stage that supports a mask and a substrate stage that supports a substrate, and while successively moving the mask stage and the substrate stage, transfers the mask pattern, via a projection optical system, onto the substrate. In recent years, to address the increasingly high integration of device patterns, increasingly high resolution of the projection optical system has been desired. The shorter the exposure wavelength used is, and, also, the larger the numerical aperture of the projection optical system is, the higher the resolution of the projection optical system becomes. For this reason, the exposure wavelength used for the exposure apparatus is becoming shorter and shorter year by year, and the numerical aperture of the projection optical system is also becoming larger and larger. In this context, the presently dominant exposure wavelength is 248 nm from a KrF excimer laser, but a still shorter wavelength of 193 nm from an ArF excimer laser is now gradually being put to practical use. In addition, when performing exposure, the depth of focus (DOF) is an important factor as well as the resolution. The resolution R and the depth of focus δ are respectively expressed by the following formulas:R=k1·λ/NA,  (1)δ=±k2·λ/NA2,  (2)where λ is the exposure wavelength, NA is the numerical aperture of the projection optical system, and k1 and k2 are process coefficients. It can be seen from formulas (1) and (2) that if, to enhance the resolution R, the wavelength λ is made shorter and the numerical aperture is made larger, then the depth of focus δ becomes narrower.
When the depth of focus δ becomes too narrow, it becomes difficult to make the substrate surface coincide with the image plane of the projection optical system, and thus there occurs the possibility that the focus margin during the exposure operation will be insufficient. To address this problem, the liquid immersion method, which is disclosed in, e.g., PCT International Publication WO 99/49504 mentioned below, has been proposed as a method to make the exposure wavelength shorter in effect and to make the depth of focus broader. This liquid immersion method is designed to, by filling the space between the under surface of the projection optical system and the substrate surface with a liquid, e.g., water or organic solvent and thus by taking advantage of the fact that the wavelength of the exposure light in the liquid becomes 1/n times (n is the refractive index of the liquid and is generally about 1.2 to 1.6) of that in the air, improve the resolution and, at the same time, enlarge the depth of focus by approximately n times.
By the way, when a liquid remains on a substrate having been liquid immersion exposed, various disadvantages may arise. For example, when a substrate on which a liquid still adheres is subjected to a development process, development irregularity is induced; or an adhesion trace (the so-called water mark) that remains on the substrate after the remaining liquid has vaporized induces a development irregularity. As just described, when the liquid remaining on a substrate having been liquid immersion exposed is left as it is, a device defect is induced; however, such a defect is found as a form of a defective product only after completing a final device, which may cause decrease of device productivity.
The present invention has been made in consideration of such situations, and it is directed to a substrate conveyance device and a substrate conveyance method, an exposure apparatus and an exposure method, and a device manufacturing method that are capable of preventing the defective device due to a liquid remaining on a substrate having been liquid immersion exposed.